Packing pad



July E8, 1933. R. w. BURROWS PAckINq PAD Filed. Aug. 13, 1930 lll rl INVENTOR.

0 1 m 1 1 1 a I m 1 m 1 u a I 1 I u u ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 18, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE ROBERT W. BURROWS, OF PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA; MABEL BURROWS, EXECUTRIX OF SAID ROBERT W. BURROWS, DECEASED, ASSIGNOB TO WILLIAM K. J'AQUITH, OF

PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA PACKING PAD Application filed August 13, 1930. Serial No. 475,020.

piadding or cushioning member is desired.

any expedients and forms of padding devices for such uses have been tried with varying degrees of success, but it has been found that most of these padding members or materials have faults or short-comings which offset their usefulness, and many types are so expensively constructed as to be prohibitive in commercial use.

Among the problems to be met in such a pad are to provide lightness of weight and compactness in bulk for shipment, and for shipment it is desirable to have the pad of material compressible in bundles and which will resume its cushioning qualities when released from the compressed bundles.

It also is desirable to have flexibility to the pad so that it maybe shaped around in regular surfaces and in corners; also that it may be tough enough to be bent without breaking and crushed without destroying its cushioning efi'ect; also that it be of relatively soft material so that the pad itself will not injure delicate products packed therein such as is often done when packing fruits with the ordinary corrugated packing board which ismade of relatively rigid substance.

In order that the advantages of this invention may be readily distinguished from the known art, it is advisable that the terms craped or crimped paper be distinguished from the term corrugated board. As used herein, corrugated board is referred to as the commercial product having parallel ridges and having a comparatively stifl' body, and capable of supporting its own weight without substantial sagging lengthwise of the corrugations, when out into pieces approximately six inches longitudinally parallel to the corrugations by one inch transversely of the corrugations and supported firmly at one end so as to have about five inches free and subject to its own weight horizontally. The term craped or crimped paper is referred to as a sheet body having crinkles therein and of such nature thatit may be termed flaccid, or which will sag of its own weight when supported in the manner described above.

It is the object of this invention to provide a tough flexible pad having absorbent qualities, having a spongy resiliency, which may be used flat, or folded around an object, which may be bent without breaking, and compressed without losing its resiliency; also to provide a pad wherein the thickness may be .readily and easily adjusted, and to improve generally upon cushioning packing pads.

With the above mentioned and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the claims hereto appended; it, being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction within the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

To more clearly comprehend the invention, reference is directed to the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective of pad.

Fig. 2 is a lateral transverse section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical elevation of pad adapted todcylindrical form, showing overlapping en s.

Fig. 4 is a vertical elevation of pad adapted to conical object, showing how the pad may be crushed to fit the object.

, Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a single sheet of the material of which ad is made. Fig. 6 is perspective of modlfied form of pad.

crimping of abutting layers is angularly positioned relatively.

Fig.7 is a perspective of modified form Referring to the drawing, in which like characters of reference designate similar parts in the several figures, 5 represents a pad generally which is composed of a plurality of superposed layers of crimpedpaper 6. This paper is a well known commercially manufactured tough fibrous product and has crimpings formed therein, so that the'surface thereof is provided with a large number of irregularly placed and irregularly sized projections or lndentations 7 from the general plane of the paper, as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. These projections or indentations may be formed on either or both sides of the general plane of the paper, but I prefer that they be on' one side of said plane only since that is a commodity readily obtained in the market.

extreme planes of the crinkled sheet increase the normal thickness of the paper about fourfold. These crimpings in the paper are formed with irregular spacing and are 1rregular in size, and therefore when superposing the layers, the projections of indentations, as the case may be, do not nest, and in that manner they form a pad about four times the normal thickness of the paper, with the crimped portions forming a cushion body which is soft and flexible.

Since these projections or indentations do not nest, they may be formed in the superposed layers of paper in a uniform direction, or the crimping may extend in opposite directions in the abutting superposed layers, and when extending in opposite directions, the projections or indentations may be made uniform, if desired, so long as the paper bearing them is flexible in all directions, as shown in Fig. 8.

In some uses of the pad, it is preferred that these superposed layers of crimped paper be bound by an envelope 8 having a smooth outer surface, which will maintain the positioning of the sheets and facilitate handling.

This envelope is particularly desirable in the pads when used for packing fruit, especially fruit which is easily bruised and injured, such as grapes, ripened peaches, ripe figs, and the like, since it provides a smooth sliding surface to prevent chafing of the skin of the fruit, due to rough handling in packing or vibration in transportation. The envelope extends parallel with one face of the pad and around its ends and is attached to the reverse face by flaps or wings 9 which may be glued to the reverse side of th pad.

For use in packing bottles, electric light bulbs and the like, the pad may be constructed cylindrically, as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig.

4, and when used for padding articles of this nature, it is not essential that a smooth-faced is formed into a cylindrical structure, as

shown in Fig. 3. The body of the pad having great flexibility by reason of its body material, may be formed to fit irregular objects, such as bottles,.so that they may be packed to greatest advantage to save space, (see Fig. 1) I The superposed layers of crimped paper afford other advantages over any other form of pad, and especially over the usual corrugated board, excelsior, straw, stripped or shredded paper and the like. Corrugated board being relatively stifl will injure delicate products; if the corrugations are crushed they have no resiliency to spring back to normal shape; if bent transversely of the corrugations, the board cracks; in packing the boards for shipment they cannot be compressed under pressure to less than their normal size. Exclesior and shredded paper and straw are hard to handle in loose form and create litter and refuse, they are highly inflammable, and require a much heavier cover or envelope, and, if packed under pressure for shipment, they do not resume their initial resiliency unless the shreds are manually or mechanically loosened. Crimped paper, on the other hand. is absorbent of moisture, flexible in any direction, resilient, soft, and adapts itself most readily to the making of cushioning pads of varying thicknesses, dependent on the use to which it is to be put, by merely eliminating the number of superposed layers, and thus diminishing the thickness and'the cushioning effect of the pad, and its bulk and cost.

If desired, the facing sheet 8 of the pad, which is intended to abut fruit or other moist objects may be waterproofed wit-h paraffine or other suitable waterproofing compound.

While the word crimped is used in the claims, it is contemplated that I claim other forms of laterally projecting portions from sheets of flaccid material as distinguished from relatively stiff material, the flexibility of which is substantially opposed by crimping, corrugations, waving or the like.

I claim 1. A packing pad comprising superposed layers of flaccid sheets of crimped paper anda facing sheet having a waterproofed surface, and provided with end wings adapted for folding over the ends of the superposed- ,and said sheet being provided with wing portions adapted to be fixedly attached to the pad so as to position the inner body sheets in padforming relation.

3. A packing pad comprising a face sheet and a back sheet having their respective cor responding ends connected at opposite edges so as to form an envelope open at the remaining edges, and a crimped flaccid sheet interposed between the front and back sheet, said facing sheet having a surface resistant to absorption of moisture.

4. A packing pad comprising a rectangular envelope open at two sides and having a face sheet of flaccid material, and a back sheet secured thereto at opposite ends, and a plurality of sheets loosely interposed between and parallel to the face sheet and back sheet interposed sheets having portions of their respective bodies upformed from the normal plane of the sheet.

5. A packing pad comprising a pair of outer sheets and a plurality of overlying parallel inner sheets of flexible crimped fibrous material, one of said outer sheets being of greater width than the inner crimped sheets, thereby providing a flap adapted for folding over an end of the inner sheets, and the extreme edges of the inner sheets being free of connection to the outer sheets.

6. A packing pad comprising a plurality of overlying flaccid sheets including a face sheet and a back sheet and a crimped flaccid sheet interposed between said face sheet and back sheet, a portion of the periphery of the pad being defined by sheets, said face sheet and back sheet having fixed relative connection at radially outward portions and having other radially outward portions at which the extreme ed es of the face sheet and back sheet are free roin relativze cgnnmilsion. d l l f ac in pa comprisin ap ura it o parallel sheetsind including a face sheet ind a back sheet fixedly held relative to each other at two end portions, and a crimped flaccid sheet of tough fibrous material interposed between the face sheet and back sheet, said facing sheet having a'surface of greater degree of smoothness than the crimped interposed sheet, and said pad having other .end portions at which the extreme edges of the individual sheets are free from relative connection.

ROBERT W. BURROWS.

extreme free edges of the 

